Two Endowed Professors Named in Penn Arts and Sciences

Dean Steven Fluharty is pleased to name two faculty members to endowed chairs in the School of Arts and Sciences.

Joseph Farrell, Professor of Classical Studies, has been named the M. Mark and Esther K. Watkins Professor in the Humanities. Dr. Farrell is an internationally recognized Latinist whose research spans genres and historical epochs. A scholar of Latin literature and poetry as well as the culture of the Republican and Augustan periods, Dr. Farrell has published a number of ground-breaking studies which encompass both traditional and innovative topics and approaches. He has masterfully translated important and highly challenging texts and has edited and co-edited influential compilations, namely on Augustan poetry and the works of Vergil. He is currently working on a monograph, entitled Juno's Aeneid, on metapoetics, narrativity, and dissent in Vergil's epic masterpiece.

Mark and Esther Watkins established this chair through a bequest in 1969. Their gift supports an accomplished teacher who shows potential as a leader in his or her field. The holder must demonstrate a breadth of knowledge and accomplishment spanning more than one discipline and, most importantly, have a lively awareness of the role and ramifications of the humanities as they touch upon cultural values, aesthetics, and history.

Jeffrey Kallberg, Associate Dean for Arts and Letters and Professor of Music, has been named the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Music. Dr. Kallberg is a scholar of music of the 19th and 20th centuries, specializing in editorial and critical theory and gender studies. He is a renowned expert on Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) and has published widely on both his music and its cultural contexts. His seminal monograph, Chopin at the Boundaries: Sex, History, and Musical Genre, has been cited by virtually all subsequent studies of Chopin and translated into Polish. His current projects include books on Chopin's nocturnes and on Chopin's things, and an investigation into the links between ideas of landscape and modernism, especially in Scandinavian music from the first half of the twentieth century. Dr. Kallberg’s critical edition of Luisa Miller for the Works of Giuseppe Verdi has been performed on stages across North America, Europe, and Asia, and he is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Guggenheim Foundation.

This chair was established through a 1970 gift from the William R. Kenan Charitable Trust to support a scholar and teacher of distinction whose enthusiasm for learning, commitment to teaching, and interest in students will make a notable contribution to the undergraduate community. Established in 1966, the William R. Kenan Charitable Trust focuses on education at private institutions in the United States.